Picturesque Harford County: The Artistic Impressions of William F. Turner

November 22, 2008 | By Doug In William Turner |

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Customer Review: fine recordings from another age
`Legendary Recordings’ is what it says. These don’t all live up to that billing, but what we are given here are revealing mid twentieth century performances of four fine Vaughan Williams works. The CD begins with the `On Wenlock Edge’ song ycle with words taken from A.E.Houseman’s `A Shropshire Lad’ poems. This is a 1955 recording of the London String Quartet with Ivor Newton at the piano and George Maran singing. The contrast to modern performances is striking and refreshing. There is no attempt to place Vaughan Williams’s style (I notice English Folksong with a French impressionist accent is popular these days). They take the first track at a cracking pace for a blustery `On Wenlock Edge’ and revel in this music’s description of the natural elements all the way to the burbling brook of piano on `Clun’. They only fail to do justice during what should be the short terse 49 seconds of `Oh, When I was in love with you’, which gets lost in a wistful haze. But overall this is something of a revelation when placed next to recent recordings. Old King Cole: Ballet For Orchestra begins with the start of the `Old King Cole was a merry old soul’ song and dances its way through 19 minutes of tom foolery, pratfalls and general riotous behaviour. Anyone who thinks Vaughan Williams couldn’t let his hair down should listen to this. A good 1954 performance with Sir Adrian Boult conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The Song of Thanksgiving was originally called `Thanksgiving for Victory’. It was commissioned by the BBC in 1944 so that they would have something with which to celebrate victory over Hitler. Their original choice of composer was William Walton. As he was too busy composing his music for Olivier’s Henry V film Vaughan Williams got the job. He delivered a suitably ceremonial work that refuses to turn into a populist flag waving exercise, instead rising to the grandeur of its texts - from the Bible, Kipling and Shakespeare. A 1951 recording with The London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult again, with The Luton Choral Society and solo singer and narrator. The recording of the Serenade to Music that rounds off the disc is a genuine legendary recording. The work sets words from Shakespeare’s `The Merchant of Venice’. Vaughan Williams wrote it specially for 16 of the finest British opera and concert singers of the time, giving each a part that suited their voice. The work was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall under the baton of Sir Henry Wood on 5th October 1938. This recording was made shortly afterwards using the same artists. The work is a brilliant slice of late romantic ear candy, a kind of love letter by the composer to the ability of the human voice to charm the senses. As the recordings were made between 1938 and 1955 we do not get anything like the clarity of modern recordings, but neither are we treated to any of the classic weaknesses of historic recordings. There is no annoying shrillness or thinness of tone. No pops, clicks or scratches, and no `noises off’ like musicians moving their chairs, which are often evident on the recordings of Sir Adrian Boult. The notes are informative, interesting, but hard to navigate: as they describe the disc artist by artist rather than work by work. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable CD.
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Customer Review: Brilliant film of a brilliant novel
When I first saw this film I really liked it, mainly because it wasn’t a formula film and I couldn’t begin to figure out what would happen next. I hadn’t seen anything like this for years: it was like a 1930s domestic comedy - driven by character and dialogue, rather than by action. The film was based on a 1985 Pulitzer-nominated novel by Anne Tyler, (I liked the film so much I went out and read the novel and now Anne Tyler is one of my favourite novelists.) The actors playing the central characters - William Hurt as Macon Leary, Kathleen Turner as his wife and Geena Davis all give really good performances. Davis’s portrayal of whacky Muriel Pritchett won her an Oscar for best supporting actress, but Hurt and Turner, playing a couple traumatised by the tragic death of their young son, are much less ‘animated’ and more subtle, and totally believable. Indeed Hurt plays his part as though he is sleep walking and still manages to earn our sympathy. The supporting cast also shines, particularly Leary’s sister and brothers and Pritchett’s young son. Lawrence Kasdan’s direction is fairly low-key but brilliantly catches all the nuances of this family saga and the film really deserved its Oscar nomination for best picture.
Customer Review: Wonderfully acted
This is a wonderfully touching portait of a man, Hurt, who cannot grieve for his dead son and eventually ends up losing his marriage as well. He writes travel books for people who hate travelling. For a while, after an accident, he goes back to the family home where his two dysfunctional brothers and sisters live cut off from the outside world. Then he meets a dog trainer, Geena Davis who is both wonderfully whacky and vulnerable and a rocky romance begins. As this is a Kasdan film nothing is ever straight forward, like real life really. Superbly acted by Hurt, Davis and Turner.
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